Appropriate Shelter for Tribes : A Prayas(October 2003 to June 2007)

Vill. Devgarh, Teh. Pratapgarh,Dist. Chittorgarh, Rajasthan-312621Ph: 01478-225025, Telefax: 01472-243788E-mail: info@prayaschittor.org,URL: www.prayaschittor.org

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Acknowledgement...............................................................................................................................2A Word... ....................................................................................................................................3Preface ................................................................................................................................................4

· Introduction .......................................................................................................................................5· Context...............................................................................................................................................5· Housing in Project Area ......................................................................................................................5· Government’s Rural Housing Schemes in the Project Area ..................................................................7· People’s Attitude Towards Housing .....................................................................................................7· Prayas in Rural Housing......................................................................................................................8· Conclusion .........................................................................................................................................8

· Introduction .......................................................................................................................................9· Area of Operation ...............................................................................................................................9· Project Management .........................................................................................................................10· Objectives of the Project ...................................................................................................................11· Happenings of the Project.................................................................................................................11· Conclusion .......................................................................................................................................13

· Introduction .....................................................................................................................................14· Approach towards Minimizing the Cost of Housing .........................................................................14· Cost Effective, Energy Efficient and Environment Friendly

Building Materials : Product of R & D Unit .....................................................................................15· Prospects of R & D Unit...................................................................................................................16· Establishment of Supply Units ..........................................................................................................16· Income Generating Activities ............................................................................................................17· Blending Housing Security with Habitat Development.....................................................................18· Conclusion .......................................................................................................................................18

· Introduction .....................................................................................................................................19· Challenges faced during the implementation ....................................................................................19· Internal Brainstorming to surmount the challenges ...........................................................................20· Learning ...........................................................................................................................................20· Achievements....................................................................................................................................20· Conclusion .......................................................................................................................................22

· Structures made up of CEEEEF Technology· Objectives, Strategies and Activities of the Project

Chapter 1 : Housing - A Basic Need

Chapter 2 : Project Design

Chapter 3 : Technological Development and Blending Housing Security with Habitat Development

Chapter 4 : A Snapshot of the Project

Annexure

Glossary

“The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of Prayas and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.”

April, 2007© Prayas, Chittorgarh

Any part of this document may be reproduced, copied or adopted to meet the local needs without the intention of gaining material profits. All forms of copies, reproductions and adaptations should acknowledge Prayas, Chittorgarh as the source.

Documented by Ms. Anu VermaEdited by Mr Tejinder Bhogal

PrayasB-8, Bapu Nagar, SenthiChittorgarh, Rajasthan, India.Telefax : 00911472-243788\250044Email: prayas@sancharnet.inhttp://www.prayaschittor.org

Designed and Printed at Kumar & Company, Jaipur

Vill. Devgarh, Teh. PratapgarhDist. Chittorgarh, Rajasthan-312621Ph: 01478-225025, Telefax: 01472-243788E-mail: info@prayaschittor.orgURL: www.prayaschittor.org

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Acknowledgement

I express my sincere gratitude to ‘The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation” (SDC), New Delhi, for providing financial assistance to the project, more specifically to Dr. Veena Joshi and Ms. Avni Malhotra.

Special thanks to NABARD and Rajasthan Mission on Livelihood (RMoL) for granting the financial aid for imparting trainings on CEEEEF technology.

I would like to acknowledge Mr Tejinder Bhogal, consultant whose valuable inputs guided me in developing this note and Mr. Subhash Chandra Jalora, Project Support Unit (PSU) from July 2004 to October 2006, for extending the technical inputs that were an asset.

I appreciate the contribution of Dr Narendra Gupta, Secretary, Mr Stephen S. Kujur, Project Coordinator, (People's Initiative for Housing Security in Chittorgarh District) and all other staff members of Prayas for their full cooperation and support whenever needed to develop this document.

I am grateful to the people and community of the area, without whom the project would never be able to make a difference.

Anu Verma

A Word...Secured home is an unalienable prerequisite to live a healthy and productive life. Relative risk to life caused by air borne infections and physical injuries increases manifold in the absence of houses without adequate floor space and required environmental measures. However, globally, the unmet need for safe housing is huge amongst families from low income categories. In India, the crisis of secured housing is very severe in rural and low lying urban areas that accounts for more than three quarter of the total population.

There have been attempts to boost housing through number of schemes and programmes in the form of loans and subsidies. But, these are too little in comparison to the sheer volume of the challenge. The cost of building a secured house is prohibitive and beyond the capacity of large number of families. Prayas, with the support of SDC has made an attempt to mobilise rural community of south Rajasthan towards secured housing. One very essential elements of this endeavour production of low cost building materials for walling, roofing, flooring, ventilation etc., those can be produced locally with use of manual labour. Other components of it certainly are to create awareness for secured housing and mobilisation of finances.

It is an occasion of immense pleasure for me to share a monorgarph on the efforts of Prayas to ensure “Access to Secured Shelter”.

Dr. Narendra Gupta

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Roti, Kapada, Makaan, (Food, Clothing and Shelter), as they During Prayas’ 3 years and 9 months long intervention in the project say, are among the fundamental necessities of survival for every (titled “People’s Initiative For Housing Security In Chittorgarh

human being. Thus, it is the right of every individual to get these District”) the team witnessed many ups and downs. Initially the team needs fulfilled. found the going tough, as it had no previous experience on working

in rural housing. However, the project’s learning was very enriching Housing, in particular, besides being a very basic necessity, also which helped in framing a broader perspective on rural housing increases the productivity of people: the feeling of living in safe & security and habitat development. Although the experience in habitat secured house, and a feeling that the house is likely to endure, all help development was for a short period, it widened the vision to work in to increase people’s productivity. the same sphere with all experience and learning gained during the

implementation. Unfortunately, within the broad framework of rural infrastructural development: housing sector finds itself at the periphery. According With the experience gained from implementation, it was increasingly to 2001 census, 3.2 million houses are still needed in rural India. being realized that housing security has to be integrated with other

associated issues such as water and sanitation, livelihood, Same is the situation with the rural areas of Pratapgarh block, where infrastructural development, etc. Hence, it was planned that habitat not many families have access to safe, secure and appropriate houses development (and not just housing) would be taken up with basic amenities such as water, sanitation and domestic energy. programmatically in future efforts.The economic status of the household makes the family unable to build appropriate house. It’s interesting to note that, Prayas, right from its earlier days has been

working on different components such as health & hygiene, Thus, Prayas took a step in the area of developing rural housing with livelihood, social security, natural resource management etc, but all the aim of ensuring housing security for the tribes of Chittorgarh this work had been undertaken separately. Now, under the rubric of district. Prayas has been working with the less advantaged rural habitat, Prayas has a chance to making an integrated intervention.

and tribal people with a mission to revitalize the self-esteem of the people.

As owning a house directly helps to raise people’s self-esteem, promoting housing security is one of the

major interventions to achieve this mission. Anu Verma

Introduction

Context

local moneylenders for loans (to fund the more expensive, but legally available wood). Most tribal families occupy partially constructed The chapter explains the context of the project, status of houses. It is usually a scarcity of funds that forces a family to stay in housing in the area, existing rural housing schemes of the such partially constructed house: houses without any living space or government, the attitude of people towards housing and the ventilation, sanitation or water. rationale behind Prayas’ entry into housing.

It is believed that housing has a direct impact on the socio-economic well being of the people. A house with basic amenities offers privacy, safety and dignity; it also enhances economic productivity of the family.

As per the 2001Census of India, more than 80% of rural households do not have an appropriate and secure shelter1, out of 71% of the total rural population, only 41% live in pucca or permanent houses.

2Chittorgarh is located in the south of Rajasthan. Pratapgarh is the largest Panchayat Samiti (PS) in Chittorgarh District having a total area of 1452.57 sq. Kms. It is predominantly inhabited by Bhil tribes.

In the past, forests were abundant, which provided the major source of building materials. But at present, the forest has been drastically reduced, leading to a great scarcity of wood. Consequently,

building a house has become a major problem for the people. They either obtain wood through illegal means, or approach

Chapter 1: Housing - A Basic Need Preface

1 Shelter refers to security of life that includes housing, infrastructure, water sanitation, livelihood and other basic amenities of life.

2 On March 9, 2007, Pratapgarh was declared as 33rd district of Rajasthan.

“Safe and Secure Shelter is a right of every individual.”

Traditional House

76

Housing in Project Area toilet, water supply, fodder or firewood storage. The houses in the project area are scattered and are located on their farms. They use Within the project area itself, housing is in a country tiles / Mangalore tiles as per the investment capacity of the poor state. During a survey on the status of housing individual.in project area, some obstacles were identified, which

were responsible for the prevailing status of housing. These obstacles were poor economic status, non-availability of

economic resources, lack of awareness about CEEEEF building materials, rising prices of building materials and non-availability of

3skilled labor. However, Prayas comprehended that these obstacles and other existing problems could be overcome and began a

movement for introducing the concept of environmental friendly and gender sensitive housing.

A typical house in the identified villages is kuccha, roofed by county tiles called kelu (these are made by the users themselves out of clay and soil). Wood is profusely used throughout the construction. Most houses have only one room, which is used for living, storage, cooking, cattle shed and other household activities.

Here, people construct their house by themselves. The cost of an average house comes to around Rs 4000 to 5000 (Source: PRA with community)

Generally houses are built with inferior quality building materials, no ventilation, with walls made of bamboo, mud, cow dung or unfired brick, and with floors made of mud.

Not many houses are electrified; they use kerosene to light their houses (depending on the availability of kerosene, of course).

They rarely have a separate kitchen or provisions for bathroom,

4

Preliminary study to assess the existing housing conditions

! Samagra Awas Yojana ! Innovative Stream for Rural Housing and Habitat

Development A study was conducted in December ‘03 by Prayas to ! Rural Building Centerassess the housing conditions in one of the sample villages

named Mehido Ka Kheda having a population of 380 Amongst these, the most extensively utilized schemes were the Indira households. Mehido Ka Kheda presents similar living as well as Awas Yojana (IAY) and the Credit Cum Subsidy Schemes. It was seen economic condition as in all other project villages. The study that IAY couldn’t bring much gain for people owing to the widespread found that 100% of the houses are built with local material, corruption, wrong selection of beneficiaries, commission-seeking requiring maintenance on monthly basis and overall repairing on an behavior of the officials, inadequate financial support and use of poor annual basis. These kuccha structures are built up on an average of building materials. 450 sq. ft. land area/plot size, 93% of the houses were constructed on

land which had formal titles. To avail Credit Cum Subsidy Scheme, the person is required to have title over the land and to have collateral securities. About 20% of the houses have windows and only 6.6% are electrified. The process includes too many formalities and paper work, frosty Most of the houses consist of one large room, in which kitchen is attitude of the bankers, etc, which made people disinclined towards located in the corner. There is absolutely no sanitation facility. The seeking loan. Although the government schemes are usually only source of drinking water is hand pumps located within 25 – 100 implemented through PRIs, PRIs neither have detailed information meters from the house.regarding the schemes, nor seem interested in extending benefits to the poor. Owing to the above construction practices, traditional houses

generally encounter problems of: leaking roofs, annual repairing of walls before rains, rain damaging wall surface due to no roof overhangs

The general perception of people as to what constitutes an / Chajja, rapidly flowing water washing away the base of the structure, ideal house is a masonry built pucca house with adequate space for windows and doorframes easily lending themselves to attack by cattle shed and fodder storage. A courtyard and open space is also termites etc. preferred.

People perceive house as an important requirement and asset. Besides being a basic need, a house also symbolizes empowerment -

During the initial phase of the project, the then ongoing both economic and social - within the community. Whenever family Government schemes to promote rural housing especially has sufficient income or savings, they construct house. However,

among people below poverty line (BPL), SC and there is a big gap between people’s demand and ability to build STs were: properly designed gender sensitive houses.

! Indira Awas Yojana! Credit Cum Subsidy Scheme

People’s Attitude Towards Housing

Government’s Rural Housing Schemes in the Project Area

Scattered houses Kuccha house

No ventilation

Single room having

multipurpose utility

Walls made of bamboo, mud, cow dung or unfired brick

Mud floorsNo sanitation

facility

No electrification

Profuse use of wood

Country tiles for roofing

Traditional Housing Structure

3 An Endeavour4 Comparatively females access the compartments (kitchen, sanitary place, etc) of a house more than men do. Traditionally houses are not

constructed in a manner that takes care of the above requirements of a female. In contrast to the traditional design, this project emphasized a house design which allows women to have greater privacy; ensures separate places for kitchen, cattle and fodder; provides ventilation in kitchen;

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Prayas in Rural Housing

Conclusion

envisaged that in order to provide cost effective housing to the homeless, innovative scheme for housing and habitat development would be Prayas has had interventions in the villages implemented in one panchayat by the organisation and an adjoining of Pratapgarh block for more than two decades. panchayat would then facilitate the replication of the process in their During this period, it was increasingly being felt that respective area. Prayas should start working for rural housing. Hence,

Prayas took up “Peoples Initiative for Housing Security in Prayas facilitated in ensuring easy accessibility of CEEEEF and gender Chittorgarh District” project to introduce CEEEEF sensitive housing for the poor, increasing the internal finance resource technology to enhance the affordability and accessibility of rural base, providing solutions for healthy living, infrastructural development and tribal people to have a safe and secured roof over them. The for better habitat, promoting alternative cost saving technology and project duration was October 2003 and till June 2007. Prayas influencing the policy makers for a sustainable habitat.believes that shelter is a fundamental right that should be ensured

to every human being. Unfortunately a number of people in India are debarred of this right, especially those living in rural areas. The rural housing programme integrates gender sensitive and livelihood aspects with housing for the tribes. Its most significant feature is the The chapter explains the context of the project; briefly describes the “people’s” approach, which provides housing for the individual, project area, as well as the then prevailing condition of housing; further family through participatory processes of Community mobilization, explains about the government schemes available for rural housing and Resource mobilization and Livelihood promotion. finally outlines Prayas’ thinking with respect to rural housing. The

chapter indicates how the Project was initiated in Pratapgarh tehsil of In the initial phase, it was proposed to work with the individuals Chittorgarh block. It also introduces us to Prayas’s thinking of blending who had access to bank loans or subsidy under credit cum subsidy of housing security with livelihood promotion and habitat development. schemes. But due to the reluctance of people to take government As to how exactly this thinking has got implemented, will be seen in the grants, the planning couldn’t be continued for long. It was also forthcoming chapters.

Introduction

Area of Operation

This chapter explains in detail the project design. The chapter includes area of operation, project management,

objectives and happenings of the project.

The project was started in 15 villages under 6 Gram panchayats of Pratapgarh Block in Chittorgarh District. Slowly and gradually the project was extended to Choti Sadri, Badi Sadri and Bhadesar blocks of Chittorgarh district and Dhariyawad and Kotra blocks of Udaipur district.

Prayas chose abovementioned area as it has been working with and for people of this area since 1979. Prayas has a recognition and sanction of villagers in this area. Project area falls under scheduled tribal sub plan of the government with high concentration of weaker section belonging to ST community.

Community development committees and women SHGs were functioning in the area that enables better implementation of the project. Raw material required for producing CEEEEF building material is available in near vicinity.

The Rationale for Choosing the Project Area:

Chapter 2: Project Design

Project Area

SIROHI

BANSWARADUNGARPUR

UDAIPURCHITTORGARH

KOTA

JHALAWAR

BUNDIBHILWARA

BARAN

GANGANAGAR

BIKANER

JAISALMER

BARMER

JODHPUR

CHURU

NAGAUR

ALWAR

JHUNJHUNU

SIKAR

JAIPUR

AJMER

PALI

JALORE

TONK SAWAIMADHOPUR

DHOLPUR

BHARATPUR

HANUMANGARH

KARAULI

DAUSA

RAJ-SAMAND

Rajasthan

Udaipur! Dhariyawad! Kotra

Chittorgarh! Pratapgarh! Choti Sadri! Bari Sadri! Bhadesar

10

Note: l This was the arrangement at the beginning of the project, later both Prismo and PSU stopped being a part of the project. l Project management was top-down and reporting was bottom-up.

C L U S T E R S

Project Management

Happenings of the Project

divided informally, as per proportions decided within the family itself. However, not having legal ownership of land also implies that people cannot access loans from Banks. Though legal ownership is essential, the fact is that the procedure of getting land titles is too complex and requires completion of 14 testimonial documents per individual. In short, the task is quite difficult, and beyond the capacity of most individual tribes.

In order to help the tribes acquire land legally in their own name, Prayas took the task of land conversion. Regular visits to the households and regular follow up of the applications were undertaken.

Generally, in rural India, housing is a continuous process. It was realized that merely providing built units couldn’t solve the associated

The activities undertaken in order to achieve the objectives of the project is indicated in the annexure. Some of the key activities amongst them are as follows:

Most people in the project area own land, legally, in two ways:! In the name of ancestors! Under joint ownership

In other words, people do not own land in their own names. The land on which they live has

come down to them, has been

Advocacy

Campaign for land titles

11

Objectives of the ProjectThe objectives of the project are as follows:! Introduce the concept and rationale for appropriate

and gender sensitive housing! Mobilize finance to enhance rural housing! Evolve model of Decentralized financing! Promote the concept of CEEEEF technology! Advocacy for policy framework to promote rural

housing! Create CEEEEF building material and Research

and Development production center! Create proto type of appropriate and gender

sensitive houses

Note : The table explaining objectives, strategies and activities is given in annexure.

Discussion with bank officials

1312

security to people.Regional financial institutions were being

consulted and their schemes were studied and documented. A dialogue had been made for

disbursement of funds for housing under credit cum subsidy scheme, which benefited four people.

IEC materials were developed on Ferro Cement Roofing Channel, Stabilized mud blocks, pre-cast doors and windows frames and

panels, Micro Concrete Roofing Tiles. These materials were distributed to the trained artisans.

Housing is seen as a productive means for people. Health is one of the close associates to increase an individual’s productivity. To motivate people to enable panchayat to create healthy and hygienic environment within the villages, a number of street theaters (Kala

through use of locally available material was introduced amongst the Jattha, as is known in local dialect) were organised. Kala Jattha is an community using different instructional media viz. kala jattha, slogan effective traditional method for entertaining and information writing, photographs, drawings and lectures. dissemination and medium to reach to the communities.

The chapter describes the objectives of the project and activities To familiarize government assistance schemes with regard to undertaken to achieve these objectives. The prime objective of the housing and habitat, mass awareness program was carried out, by project was to facilitate people and communities to take the initiative to holding a series of meetings for individuals and SHGs. During the have housing security. The emphasis of the project was on familiarizing process, major emphasis was given on gender sensitive housing the concept of gender sensitive housing and CEEEEF technology. design, economic valuation and comparative study of traditional

construction and construction through CEEEEF technology.During the implementation, a need was felt for campaigning for land titles, advocating for different issues, and other such contingency interventions. The chapter talks about these interventions. Intervention was made through the existing or

newly created self-help groups. Concept of gender sensitive and secure housing

Development of IEC materials

Street Theater (Kala Jattha)

Mass awareness

Community Mobilisation

Conclusion

problems. Thus the strategy was evolved to facilitate people in getting

housing finances on one hand and to provide building material and technological skills on the other

hand. The idea was to make the actual construction, owner driven.

To implement the above concept, a number of workshops were organized with bank officials. To mobilize more finance for

ensuring housing security, Prayas advocated that group savings should be linked with livelihood. At the same time, Prayas also tried to tap government resources. Advocacy was undertaken on following issues:! Disseminating and promoting alternative technologies! Facilitating innovative financial model in housing delivery ! Motivating people to acquire title over land (patta) in

government campaign such as “Prasasan Aapke Dwar”! Promoting the CEEEEF technology through the housing

schemes of the government Through the process of workshop, panchayats were sensitized about the ! Waiving off or minimize the fees indulged in pursuing search use of cost effective technology. But even though the panchayats got

report sensitized and appreciated the use of cost effective building materials in ! Reducing risk premium from the loan amount the demonstration structures, they couldn’t promote it in the structures

supported by various government schemes. One of the major reasons A consciousness was generated among the policy planners as well as was that, predominantly the traditional techniques earned them a stakeholders through lobbying and advocacy efforts to promote the handsome amount as commission through local agents (thekedars).concept of CEEEEF technology in rural housing and habitat development.

In any construction ventures, finance is the major component. The strategies to overcome the financial constraints (major cause of concern

A number of sensitization workshops were organised to create in the area) were:an enabling environment for CEEEEF technology in rural ! Creating internal financial resource base through micro-credit and

housing and to underline the need for gender sensitive savings group. housing. The workshops were organised with ! Tapping up grants, loans and subsidies available through

various stakeholders such as SHGs, PRIs, government schemes, banks and other financial institutions. bankers, Block Development Officials. ! Promote PRIs’ role for resource mobilization in ensuring housing

Resource Mobilization

Workshop

Workshop for SHG members Exposure visit of women on the site

15

understructure could be either that were found to be cost effective are as follows : !steel/wooden/concrete joint. Stabilized Mud Block for walling application! Ferro-Cement Roofing Channel for roofing application!The actual selection of any of the above materials, Micro-Concrete Roofing Tiles for roofing application! get decided on case by case basis, depending on the Pre-cast Door, Window Frames, Panels, Jallies and Garden Tiles

economic condition of that family, as well as their

attraction to a particular technology.

Considering the design of the house and material utilization for housing, the R and D unit focused on minimizing the cost of production of building materials. The testing of the local materials available was carried out aggressively at different sites. The proportion of the mix varied, for which parameters for the proportion of the mix were set accordingly. R and D unit witnessed failures and successes in the research on Cost Effective,

Energy Efficient and Environment Friendly

(CEEEEF) building materials and

technologies. The building

materials

Cost Effective, Energy Efficient and Environment Friendly Building Materials: Product of R & D Unit

Chajja, Jallies

Artisans Constructing House

14

Introduction

Approach towards Minimizing the Cost of Housing

design. An architect was approached to plan different appropriate construction designs. The finalized design made minute modifications The chapter deals with the technologies developed and the of the traditional one, while keeping in mind the gender sensitivity as approach towards ensuring cost effective, energy efficient and well as the problems pertaining to termite infection through the environmental friendly house. The chapter highlights the blending understructure of the roofing system.of housing security with habitat development and the linking of

income generation activities with the project.

A Research and Development unit was established to produce building materials through CEEEEF technology. Local materials were used for

Cost of houses can be producing CEEEEF building minimized if attention is paid to materials to maintain cost the following: effectiveness. The locally ! The Design available materials are stones, ! The Material used sand, and wood. So it was

decided that stone masonry with cement mortar, rammed earth

Although the traditional technology or stabilized cement housing design has certain blocks would be utilized for inadequacies, the fact is that walling purpose. It was decided

people are used to these that either morvi tiles or sand kinds of houses. Thus, stone slabs may be used for

new designs can only be sloping and flat roof done by keeping in respectively. In the case of tiles,

mind the existing it was decided to use an traditional understructure of wood while

housing for sand stones the

Material Utilization

Design of the House

Chapter 3: Technological Development andBlending Housing Security with Habitat Development

Cost Effective, Energy Efficient & Environment Friendly (CEEEEF) technologies

Low Cost Building Materials

Use of locally available materials

Cost Effective Designs

Building Materials Design of Structures

Reduction of Cost

Basic Components of Cost Reduction

Stabilized Mud Blocks

Ferro-Cement Roofing Channel

Micro-Concrete Roofing Tiles

Pre-cast Window and Door Frames

Pre-cast Window and Door Panels

Structure made up of CEEEEF technology

Pre-cast Door Panel

1716

Prospects of R & D Unit

Establishment of Supply Units

Further research is being carried out on producing other CEEEEF building materials for

diversified market and quality maintenance of the building materials.

People from the local area visit the Research and Development Unit and demand these building materials. Over a period of

time, huge demand of the CEEEEF building materials has been created in the area by organizing trainings at villages and

constructing demonstration structures. It became relatively essential to establish the supply units by generating micro-enterprises within the community to meet the growing demand of CEEEEF building materials for housing needs.

Running capital is required in order to maintain production and supply. This could be dealt with by supplying building materials for constructing houses and for repair and maintenance of old structures.

Unlike other micro-enterprises where the market poses threat to the production activity, entrepreneurial development of CEEEEF technology has the local market and higher acceptability among the community.

For establishing supply units, it was crucial to develop skills of the tribes in CEEEEF building materials & technologies. Thus, skill

enhancement training programs were introduced for those people who migrate to work as labourers in construction

work during the lean periods in agriculture.

The objective of conducting these training programs was to generate livelihood option

by establishing enterprise for

producing low cost building materials. The capacities of local masons and

artisans had been enhanced in CEEEEF technologies. Technical skills were provided and efforts

made to provide these moulds to local artisans. Women members of SHGs were trained on CEEEEF technologies

and helped to start production and its marketing. After regular trainings, these trained masons became master trainers and had

later imparted training to rural youth. Some of these trainings were also conducted under the skill development training by

NABARD and RMoL.

A group of trained masons were helped to prepare a bankable project to get the loan from the financial institutes so that they could start their own enterprise. But there was too much formality, and paper work requirements to get the loans, owing to which the frustrated masons finally decided to organize funds on their own to purchase

5an SMB machine.

One of the strategies of the project was to help the trainees through producing and marketing of the CEEEEF building materials. The potential Income Generating Activities were discussed with the SHG members (trainees) so that they could initiate Micro-Enterprise units in the area.

Trainees witnessed rise in demand for CEEEEF building materials that boosted their interest in establishing the micro-enterprise.

The groups, who were trained through the skill enhancement training programmes, had to deal with two

Income Generating Activities

5 SMB, Stabilized Mud Block machine, used to produce blocks for constructing walls.

Trainings for Establishing Supply Units Artisans taking up Income Generating Activities

18

During the extension phase of the project (July 2006 to June 2007), challenges: arranging for money Prayas committed to sustain and replicate the concept of habitat to invest in SMB machines, and finding a development through the following strategies:market. They solved the problem of money by

practicing saving and thrift. The problem of marketing was a bit more difficult. They developed a market strategy

!wherein they promoted vermicompost. Discuss the concept of habitat development in the Gram Sabhas and build consensus around it through community

Vermicompost bed constructions required SMB that created participation.!demand for SMB. Thus, vermi-compost activity was promoted Consult and explore areas of cooperation with financial and

with creation of market for the entrepreneurs. This in turn would development institutes and rural local bodies (Panchayati Raj enhance the economic status of the trainees as well as of the people Institutions) for formulating financing mechanisms.

!using vermi-compost activity. The vision is the increased economic Identify livelihood options based on local resources !status would ultimately augment the affordability of the tribes, who, Improve and build in-house knowledge on different

in turn will construct the appropriate housing. aspects of habitat development, mainly land, water and livelihood issues

The project tried to blend housing with habitat development. During the implementation, it was experienced that the housing The chapter deals with minimizing the construction cost through use of alone won’t suffice to meet the need of the community. This is CEEEEF technology. Understanding people’s reluctance to take because the community would also require water and sanitation, government loan for housing, it was realized that training artisans to roads, electricity, livelihood, social security and community start their own enterprise would help them to earn a livelihood, and to infrastructure along with housing security. simultaneously produce CEEEEF material.

Blending Housing Security with Habitat Development Conclusion

Strategies

Chapter 4: A Snapshot of the Project

19

Introduction

Challenges faced during the implementation

Project’s supporters were either supporting the project or were direct beneficiaries of the project. SDC supported the entire project through The chapter describes the challenges faced during the funds; PSU was not directly involved with the intervention but was implementation. It reflects upon major shortcomings and contributing by giving its valuable inputs for smooth functioning of the learning from the project. It also highlights the achievements of project. Some PRIs who were in favour of the noble work were the project.supporting the cause whereas SHGs and Community were the direct beneficiaries of the project.

When Prayas was trying to collaborate with various government The fence sitters were either unaware of the indifferent attitude of the housing schemes and with various stakeholders, it faced many government functionaries towards CEEEEF building materials or problems. Nobody liked to join hands owing to commissioning and ignored the entire matter.malpractices.

The opponents were strong enough to pose a threat to the project, as The figure below depicts the position of different stakeholders in the they were involved in malpractices and commissioning, which the project.supporters couldn’t fight back. The supporters (SHGs and communities) were generally from the weaker section and easily get harassed and trapped by the tricks played by opponents.

Some of the stakeholders tried to create problems in the functioning of the project at various levels. These challenges could be understood through following stakeholders and actor analysis.

Since the beginning of the project, a number of changes took place within the project. PRISMO withdrew and PSU couldn’t be replaced which affected the functioning of the project.

The RHP team within Prayas witnessed frequent changes at different (RHP team and Prayas) (SDC, PSU, few PRIs, phases of project period, which too resulted in a backlog.

SHGs, Community)

Through the efforts of the Prayas team, some of the villagers applied for (Ministry and (Government Machineries,housing loans under Credit cum subsidy scheme. But again the frosty policy makers) PRIs, Contractors) temperament of the bankers discouraged people to avail the benefit out of this scheme. Prayas team then approached the then Rural

Frosty attitude of some stakeholders

Frequent change in the Project

Set back in obtaining Government housing scheme

Stakeholders and actor analysis

Proponents Supporters

Fence sitters Opponents

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There is a strong realization of having gender sensitive construction.

Those who can't afford permanent bathrooms and toilets are constructing temporary ones.

CEEEEF building materials have got a prominent place in the Swarna Jayanti Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY), a Govt. of India

rural employment programme. This was the result of workshops and a series of meetings held with the Bankers to enlighten them

about the advantages and business opportunities of the CEEEEF building materials.

Over a period the attitude of the bankers towards promoting micro enterprise based on CEEEEF has changed. Now many of them are willing to finance housing and micro-enterprise activities based on this concept to boost construction business.

PRIs and the Govt. officials of the area have also been sensitized on housing and habitat development issues through workshops.

Entrepreneurship Management and Development Institute (EMI), an autonomous body of the Government of Rajasthan and National Bank for Agriculture & Rural Development (NABARD) have expressed an interest in the project and have given financial support for training of the unemployed youth on CEEEEF building materials and technologies. The project has trained around 290 masons, artisans and unemployed rural & tribal youths including women, in and around the project area.

6 application forms for the construction of houses using CEEEEF building materials and technologies under credit

cum subsidy scheme were processed and 4 amongst them received the housing grant; 3 amongst them

have constructed their houses using CEEEEF building materials and technologies.

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Development Minister of the responsibility of each team members is specific, thus each member state to intervene in the matter. The knows the assignment to be accomplished.

minister ordered the officials to grant the benefits of the scheme. Consequently, four people were

granted housing loan. Complete package of habitat development including water and sanitation facilities, roads, electricity, livelihood, social security and community infrastructure would serve the purpose of improving the

The above situation posed a threat to the project, which for a quality of life of the rural mass.time at least, depressed the spirit of the team.

Collaborative efforts of the government, NGOs and other agencies To fight back the situation, strategies were developed and internal concerned with habitat development require to be ensured for brainstorming sessions were conducted within the team to retrieve development of habitat especially in rural areas.the lost vigor. Following SWOT analysis and Review Assessment Goal setting and Action plan (RAGA) were the tools used during the Advocacy for the blending of all the development projects into one session to strategize the activities and proceed in a set direction. integrated programme of habitat development is needed.

Advocate for resource centers at various hierarchical levels in the three-tier system of local governance in order to orient people about the government schemes and train them to get the maximum benefits out of the ongoing government schemes. Utter need in the area First experience of

High motivation of the team Prayas in Housing Support of the Community

During the period of time, community is realizing that owning an Tribal Sub Plan area, New technology appropriate and gender sensitive house is their right.

Govt. concentration ofdevelopment projects The major emphasis of the project was that the people play a major role

in designing their houses. Thus, design for the house is based on the individual's choice. The technical team generally supports in the cost analysis of that design.

RAGA is a management tool to strategize the activities of Possessing appropriate housing is increasingly becoming a priority of the the project by reviewing; assessing and setting the goal rural people. This can be asserted as there is a high demand of CEEEEF and drawing the action plan for the smooth technology in the community and banks are also being approached by functioning of the project. The community for financial support.

Learning

Internal Brainstorming to surmount the challenges

Achievements

SWOT Analysis

RAGA

Strengths Weakness

Opportunities Threats

Community Bathroom under-construction

A Trainee receiving Certificate of CEEEEF Training

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Due to the increasing cost of wooden door & window frames and For walling application the panels, concrete door & window frames and panels have been technology of Stabilized Mud Block has been introduced as one of the CEEEEF building materials. These materials introduce. This technology has a very high rate of can be easily made with fewer resources. Concrete door & window acceptability by the community on account of cost frames are being produced and sold in the local area and soon some effectiveness. SMB utilizes the wastes and local resources to SHGs will undertake this activity for livelihood.the optimum; it decentralizes local production and offers

business opportunities.Cement Jallies and Garden Tiles were introduced as a construction materials as well as livelihood option for women. Concept of the use Ferro-cement Roofing Channels have been successfully introduced of cement jallies is being introduced among tribal households for the for roofing application. Local community, BDO, PRIs and other lighting and ventilation purpose. Govt. officials have appreciated this product as it totally eliminates

the use of wood. This product is gradually becoming popular among Note: Please refer annexure for structures made by CEEEEF tribal community owing to speedy installation; no shuttering required, technology30% cost saving over RCC roofing, lower dead load on the walls.

Further, this product is also usable as an intermediate floor; it has a high strength to weight ratio; it has an elegant profile and is available with uniform sizes; and finally, large spans are possible with This chapter tries to define the spirit of the project by explaining the intermediate supports. challenges faced, strategies adopted to overcome the challenges,

learning and achievements of the project.Micro Concrete Roofing Tiles were also introduced as another roofing material, which is also on high demand as they offer more value for The project “People’s Initiative For Housing Security In Chittorgarh money, and are highly durable. They also are as long living as concrete, District”, helped to build an environment of healthy and secured living are lighter than other roofing tiles, they require less understructure, as a right of each individual. As a result of the project the community can be coloured to users’ preference, reduce heat gain, do not make too has begin to express a need for the development of habitat noise during rains and do not contain asbestos fibers. covering all the aspects of healthy and secured living.

Conclusion

Annexure-I

We Believe

“One must have the comfort of home to be able to deliver his or her best.”

Structures made up of CEEEEF Technology

6.

7.

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1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Annexure-II

Objectives, Strategies and Activites of the Project

The table explains, in detail, the objectives of the project, the strategies formulated and activities undertaken to achieve the objectives.

GlossaryAIDS : Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome

ASHGs : Artisans Self Help Groups

BDO : Block Development Officer

BPL : Below Poverty Line

CEEEEF : Cost Effective, Energy Efficient and Environment Friendly

DRDA : District Rural Development Agency

EMI : Entrepreneurship Management and Development Institute

FCR : Ferro Cement Roofing Channel

IAY : Indira Awas Yojna

IEC : Information, Education and Communication

MCR : Micro Concrete Roofing Tiles

NABARD : National Bank for Rural Development

NGO : Non Government Organization

NOC : No Objection Certificate

PMGAY : Pradhan Mantri Grameen Awas Yojna

PRA : Participatory Rural Appraisal

PRIs : Panchayati Raj Institutions

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